Chicken Carnitas

After spending some time eating vegetarian, I am trying to cut back on the meat I eat, and to eat more sustainably. This means relying more on chicken and fish as my staple proteins, rather than beef or pork.

This means I need to get a bit more creative to keep myself satisfied, so when a friend of mine asked for a chicken carnitas recipe to help him out, I jumped at the challenge.

Ingredients:

4 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
4 cloves of garlic
1 medium yellow onion
2 jalapenos
¼ c olive oil
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
¼ tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp oil

Directions:

Put the chicken thighs in a slow cooker. Peel and crush your garlic, peel and quarter your onion, roughly chop your jalapenos. Place everything, except the last 2 tbsp of oil, in your slow cooker and toss to make sure it is all well combined.

Cook on low for 6 hours.

Once cooked through and tender, remove the chicken and drain the liquid through a mesh strainer and reserve.

Chill both for a few hours or over night.

You can skim the fat off the liquid once it is cool, or stick in the freezer for an hour to make it easy to scoop off.

Once the chicken is fully cooled shred-it using either your hands or a fork or chop it into small pieces.

To reheat, pour 2 tbsp of oil over medium heat in a large pan, once the oil is shimmering, add your shredded chicken in one layer and sear without moving for 2 minutes to build up the characteristic crust. Poor in reserved one cup of cooking liquid and stir until heated through.

Serve on warm tortillas with chopped red onion, chopped cilantro, and crema or sour cream. It also works great on nachos and it keeps well in the freezer.

Tres Cerditos Tacos (Three Little Pigs Pork Tacos)

My wife and I were visiting her best friend in NY when we stopped by this great gastropub called Prison City Pub and Brewery in Auburn, NY. (Whenever we are back up there, I'll probably do a full review.) I ordered a sandwich they call Three Little Pigs which is made of pork prepared 3 ways: pulled pork, ham, and bacon. I really enjoyed this so I decided to come up with my own version with a Mexican flair called Tres Cerditos Tacos. I did a bit of research into the ways pork is prepared in Mexico and I came up with my duo of tacos that contains pork three ways: carnitas, chorizo, and bacon.

Ingredients:

Basics:

Carnitas
1lb chorizo

½lb bacon
Corn tortillas

Recommended Toppings:

Chopped cilantro
Sliced avocado
Queso cotija
Fresh lime
Crema
Roasted tomato salsa

Directions:

Cook the carnitas according to the recipe I previously posted here, and while it is resting prepare the other meats. Cook the pound of chorizo by either cooking the sausages and then chopping them, or, my personal favorite way, strip off the casings and cook the stuffing. If you can find uncased ground chorizo, that would be perfect but I have had a lot of difficulty finding that. Once cooked, set aside. Slice the bacon into thin bits and fry again, set aside and drain once finished. I recommend using the bacon grease to fry the carnitas.

Once you meats are all prepared, prepare your toppings. I recommend chopped cilantro, avocado slices, some fresh slices of lime, cotija cheese, crema, and my roasted tomato salsa. Cotija cheese is a crumbly Mexican cheese that has a similar texture to grated parmesan, but it doesn't melt. If you can't find it, feel free to use any cheese you usually like on your tacos, I suggest a combination of monterey jack, cheddar, and mozzarella. Crema, as I mentioned in my nachos recipe, is Mexican sour cream. Crema is more liquidy than sour cream so I like to store it in a squeeze bottle for easy serving. If you can't find crema, feel free to replace with sour cream.

Once all of the meats and toppings are ready to go, it's time to start making tacos! Place two soft corn tortillas and put a serving of carnitas in one and a serving of chorizo in the other. Sprinkle the carnitas with the bacon bits, and some cheese, then spritz with lime. Top the chorizo with some chopped cilantro, a few avocado slices, some of the cheese, and then squeeze on a little crema and spritz on some lime. Enjoy!

Carnitas

Carnitas, as anyone who frequents Chipotle will know, is Mexican pulled pork that is usually fried after it's cooked so it forms a nice crust. In Mexico is it usually confit or, slow cooked,  by simmering the pork in lard. I chose to go the more American route by just using a slow-cooker. These carnitas have way more flavor than anything you'll get at your usual burrito place and then go great in burritos, tacos, nachos, or a host of other Mexican dishes. My favorite part is that they make your whole house smell like a good Mexican restaurant.

Ingredients:

3lb bone in pork shoulder
4 T of olive oil, divided
Salt and pepper
2 t of dried oregano
2 t of cumin
1 jalapeno, sliced
2 sticks of cinnamon
1 orange, cut in half

Directions:

Coat your pork shoulder with 2 T of the olive oil and then liberally cover with salt and pepper. Combine the oregano and the cumin and the rub onto the pork. Place your pork shoulder in your crockpot or slow cooker and then add the sliced jalapeno. You don't have to worry about seeding the jalapenos in this dish because they will cook for so long that most of the heat will be gone. Add the two sticks of cinnamon, and then squeeze the juice from each orange half onto the pork and then add the spent orange halves.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high 4-5 hours.

Once the pork is fork tender, remove for the pot and let is rest, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove the other solids and discard. While to pork is resting, pour the cooking liquid in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat to reduce by half. Once the pork is rested, use forks to pull into bite sized shreds and then put the meat back in the crock pot. Add the reduced cooking liquid and then stir until is absorbed back into the meat.

In a 10 inch skillet, add the remaining 2 T of olive oil and heat it over medium high heat. Once the oil is nice and hot, add the carnitas and cook until a light crust forms on the bottom. Remove from the heat and serve.